The Captain and the King

The things that you fall in love with as a kid are always with you. They stick in your subconscious like nothing else. I decided when I was 12 years old what I thought was cool -- and that was comic books, baseball, crossword puzzles, country music and girls with dark hair and dark eyes. And that's still what I think is cool today.

Elvis Presley died thirty years ago today. He and I have at least one thing in common -- he fell under the spell of comic books at an early age too, and he never got over it; it influenced the rest of his life and consequently American culture. Elvis's favorite comic book hero was Captain Marvel Junior, who was the first teenage hero in his right rather than being relegated to sidekick. Unlike Billy Batson, who transformed into the original Captain Marvel by saying the acronym SHAZAM, Freddie Freeman became Captain Marvel. Jr by shouting out "Captain Marvel." (And yes, that means he was the only superhero who could not say his own name otherwise he would turn into a crippled little boy, not a good thing to do when you're fighting bad guys like Captain Nazi.)

Elvis's feelings for Captain Marvel Jr are well-documented. The Presley's apartment in Memphis has been preserved as a historical and a copy of a Captain Marvel Junior comic book sits on a desk in Elvis's old bedroom, and there are a stack of them in the attic at Graceland. According to Pamela Clarke Keogh’s “Elvis Presley: The Man. The Life. The Legend,” Elvis used comics as an escape. “Like a lot of kids with a chaotic home life, Elvis created his own world inside his head. He read comic books and was drawn to Superman, Batman, and, most of all, Captain Marvel Jr. Around the age of 12, Elvis discovered Captain Marvel Jr. and quickly became almost obsessed with him.”

Want proof of the extent of Freddie Freeman's influence on Elvis Presley? All you have to do is look at the hair Elvis always dyed black (his hair was naturally light brown) like CMJ, and those sideburns, which started out looking just like CMJ's. The Vegas outfits Elvis wore , the jumpsuits, scarves, boots and half-capes are all from Captain Marvel Junior. The Taking Care of Business TCB emblem that Elvis designed and emblazoned all over jewelry and clothing has a lightning bolt in the middle that looks a lot like the one that struck when Freddy changed into Captain Marvel Junior, and that he wore on his chest.






















By the way, it wasn't all one-sided hero worship either. In a recent issue of Teen Titans, Captain Marvel Junior reveals that he's a big fan of the King's too.


You can read a lot more about the connection between the Captain and the King here.

Accentuating the positive

"Don't Be So Negative" is by Pete Mitchell. And the conceit here is using a positive form of a word that is usually expressed as a negative. You'll see what I mean right after this SPOILER WARNING (now with 50 per cent more rant!): Don't read any further until you've done today's New York Sun Crossword Puzzle. New York Sun puzzles are every bit as fun and challenging as the more well-known New York Times -- No, you know what, they're better. That's right, I said it, the New York Sun's puzzles are better than the New York Times's puzzles, and I can only imagine how frustrating it must be to be Peter Gordon and to keep putting out this superior product and have everybody just blog, blog, blogging and yak, yak, yakking about the Times, Times, Times. Look, if you don't have time for two great puzzles a day, do the better one, do the SUN -- (we now return you to your regularly scheduled spoiler warning) -- and they're indisputably better in one way -- they're free. If you'd like to read about an unbiased head-to-head competition between the Sun and the Times puzzles check this out. For an unsolicited testimonial from someone who agrees with me, see here. Or if you're ready to decide for yourself you can download this puzzle and join in on the fun here.

Ready to shed all that negativity and get some positive vibes going? Let's do it.

3D: Getaway drivers? (NOCENT BYSTANDERS) Although you never hear it, the word NOCENT has been around for 600 years or more. It means "harmful, injurious." In other words, the opposite of INNOCENT. I do have a problem with this answer though, as I don't see how you can be a getaway driver and a harmful, injurious bystander. You can't drive and stand by, can you? A nocent bystander might trip the police when they chase after the crooks or say "They went thataway" when they actually went t'other way, but if you're driving the getaway car, you're not a nocent bystander, you're a nocent abettor.

21D: Someone who doesn't bother anyone during a flight? (RULY PASSENGER) "Ruly" is a back-formation from "unruly" and it usually means "neat and tidy." Again, not a word you hear every day.

9D: Source of carnal desires? (MACULATE HEART) This is the one that gave me the most trouble, probably because I've never heard the word "maculate" and I don't think I'd ever considered the IM- in IMMACULATE to be a negative prefix, since "immaculate" is the ultimate positive word. Well, that's one of the reasons I love crossword puzzles. "Maculate" means "spotted or stained". It's used here in its archaic sense of "defiled, impure."

11D: Receiver of a large bonus? (GRUNTLED EMPLOYEE) We hear a lot about disgruntled employees and it's natural to assume that they are dis- (not) -gruntled (happy) but the "dis" of disgruntled is not the same as the "dis" of "dismayed." It's not a negative at all, it's an intensifier. It means "completely", and so "gruntled," just as it sounds, is an old word that means "grumbling." "Disgruntled" means "completely grumbling." Today, however, "gruntled" is finding its way into dictionaries as a word again, only this time it means "happy or content." In other words the opposite of what it originally meant.

If you like this positive spins on words you'll love this classic piece:

How I Met My Wife

Jack Winter, the New Yorker, July 25, 1994.

It had been a rough day, so when I walked into the party I was very chalant, despite my efforts to appear gruntled and consolate.

I was furling my weildy umbrella for the coat check when I saw her standing alone in a corner. She was a descript person, a woman in a state of total array. Her hair was kempt, her clothing shevelled, and she moved in a gainly way.

I wanted desperately to meet her, but I knew I’d have to make bones about it, since I was travelling cognito. Beknowst to me, the hostess, whom I could see both hide and hair of, was very proper, so it would be skin off my nose if anything bad happened. And even though I had only swerving loyalty to her, my manners couldn’t be peccable. Only toward and heard-of behavior would do.

Fortunately, the embarrassment that my maculate appearance might cause was evitable. There were two ways about it, but the chances that someone as flappable as I would be ept enough to become persona grata or a sung hero were slim. I was, after all, something to sneeze at, someone you could easily hold a candle to, someone who usually aroused bridled passion.

So I decided not to risk it. But then, all at once, for some apparent reason, she looked in my direction and smiled in a way that I could make head or tails of.

I was plussed. It was concerting to see that she was communicado, and it nerved me that she was interested in a pareil like me, sight seen. Normally, I had a domitable spirit, but, being corrigible, I felt capacitated—as if this were something I was great shakes at—and forgot that I had succeeded in situations like this only a told number of times. So, after a terminable delay, I acted with mitigated gall and made my way through the ruly crowd with strong givings.

Nevertheless, since this was all new hat to me and I had not time to prepare a promptu speech, I was petuous. Wanting to make only called-for remarks, I started talking about the hors d’oeuvres, trying to abuse her of the notion that I was sipid, and perhaps even bunk a few myths about myselfs.

She responded well, and I was mayed that she considered me a savoury character who was up to some good. She told me who she was. “What a perfect nomer,” I said, advertently. The conversation became more and more choate, and we spoke at length to much avail. But I was defatigable, so I had to leave at a godly hour. I asked if she wanted to come with me. To my delight, she was committal. We left the party together and have been together ever since. I have given her my love, and she has requited it.

Other entries of interest:

31A: Manhattan variety (ROB ROY) My name is Robert Loy. Most people call me Rob, so I'm always this close to a cocktail -- unfortunately, a Rob Roy is made with Scotch, which I cannot stand.

32A: NASCAR septets (PIT CREWS) Not a NASCAR fan, and it gave me a headache trying to think of something a car would have seven of -- not tires or valves or windows. Turns out you have 7 guys on your pit crew. Adding to my troubles in this area was the fact that I had SEAT at 32D: Keister instead of PRAT so I was looking for a car part that started with a S.

36A: Carter who illustrated "The Little Baby Snoogle-Fleejer" (AMY) A family affair, since the Carter who wrote this book is JIMMY.

42A: Creator of Tommy and Tuppence (AGATHA) I went through a big mystery-reading phase many years ago, and I've read a lot of Agatha Christie. I was never a big fan of this husband and wife crime-solving team (although By the Pricking of My Thumbs is pretty good). I was more of a Hercule Poirot man, or as Dame Agatha herself referred to him: "That insufferable Belgian twit."

50A: Jacques Cousteau's ship (CALYPSO) I can thank John Denver for this one, as he recorded a song about Jacques and his crew that was so catchy I've never quite gotten it completely out of my mind.

7A: Soap spitfire since 1970 (ERICA) That would be Erica Kane as played by Susan Lucci on "All My Children." I started watching that show in 1972 and only quit about five years ago. I was an addict, even working at night during those pre-VCR years so I wouldn't have to miss it. Speaking of things I've never been able to get out of my mind, remind me sometime to tell you about the crush I had on an alcoholic lesbian named Devon Shepherd who was on that show.

12D: U.S. Counterpart of Action Man (G.I. Joe) You can learn more about Action Man than you ever wanted to know right here.

28D: Calliope's kin (ERATO) Erato, the muse of erotic poetry and song, is by far the most popular muse among crossword constructors. Clio shows up once in a while. Polyhymnia and Terpsichore almost never.

43A: Suburban bar (AXLE) No, not Applebee's. Part of the Suburban SUV. (And yes, I considered AXLES on that damn Nascar clue too.)

I just noticed that I left squares 60 and 61 blank. That kind of carelessness could cost me dearly at Brooklyn. Put an S in the former and a P in the latter. And while you're at it change WINNIE at 51A: Disney Store plush toy to MINNIE. Oh, and explain 61D: Cap's counterpart (PIE) to me. To me this is Cap:

and his counterpart would be either Bucky or the Falcon. I know, nobody but other comic book nerds has any idea what I'm talking about. It's probably time for me to sign off. Be here tomorrow when we'll close out the puzzle week.

Rest in peace, Elvis.

My 301st post

After yesterday's amazing word search-acrostic-crossword from Patrick Blindauer, this one seemed more like a Tuesday puzzle, with a simple theme based on animal puns.

But first our new and improved SPOILER WARNING (now with 50 per cent more rant!): Don't read any further until you've done today's New York Sun Crossword Puzzle. New York Sun puzzles are every bit as fun and challenging as the more well-known New York Times -- No, you know what, they're better. That's right, I said it, the New York Sun's puzzles are better than the New York Times's puzzles, and I can only imagine how frustrating it must be to be Peter Gordon and to keep putting out this superior product and have everybody just blog, blog, blogging and yak, yak, yakking about the Times, Times, Times. Look, if you don't have time for two great puzzles a day, do the better one, do the SUN -- (we now return you to your regularly scheduled spoiler warning) -- and they're indisputably better in one way -- they're free. If you'd like to read about an unbiased head-to-head competition between the Sun and the Times puzzles check this out. Or if you're ready to decide for yourself you can download this puzzle and join in on the fun here.

On to the critter calembours

19A: Animalistic novices (GNU BEES) Puns on the word GNU are nothing new. Here's an old limerick:

A problem occurred at our zoo,

When a baby was born to the gnu.

When they tried to announce it

They couldn't pronounce it,

But of course the new gnu knew.

Gnus are also known as wildebeests, but that's harder to pun on.

23A: Animalistic Glenn Ford romantic comedy of 1964? (DEER HART) A very venisony answer, sinced a hart is also a deer -- specifically, a male red deer at least five years old.

32A: Animalistic salon application? (HARE MOOSE) One of the first gifts I ever bought my wife was a nightshirt with a picture of Bugs Bunny putting moose on his hare -- I mean hair. She's not nearly the big Bugs Bunny fan that I am, but she's still and still wears that nightshirt.

45A: Animalistic reversals? (EWE TERNS)

51A: Animalistic wine? (BOAR DOE)

And where would all these animal pairs go? Maybe in a STABLE (3d: Firm) but more likely in NOAH'S ARK (54A: Biblical refuge). The only other animals I see roaming around this puzzles are at 57A: Creatures in "Them!" (ANTS) and maybe 50A: Termagant (NAG) but there are animal sounds at 13A: Knee-slapper (HOOT) and 53D: Slangy refusal (NAW) -- that's right, gnaw, like a beaver. (Hey, it's no worse than some of the other puns in this puzzle.)

Other entries of interest:

29A: 078-05-1120, on a Woolworth's sample wallet insert: abbr. (SSN) The most misused social security number of all time. A wallet manufacturer wanted to show how well those new-fangled cards would fit in his wallets, he included a sample card with his secretary's number on it. Read more about at it at Social Security's own website.

Lot of poison in today's puzzle: 2D: Toxin in spoiled food (BOTULIN) and 33D: Poisonous salt (ARSENITE) I don't guess PEE (17D: ___ -wee's Big Adventure") is poisonous, but you probably shouldn't drink it.

52A: "Terrible" ruler (IVAN IV) I guess the first three Ivans were sweet.

43A: Follower of Clint as Best Director (ANG) That's Ang Lee, who won the Oscar for "Brokeback Mountain."

28A: Entertainer nicknamed "The Great Dane" (BORGE) Victor Borge was also known as "The Clown Prince of Denmark." He's certainly the funniest concert pianist I ever saw. He used to say things like "I'm going to play it with both hands so it will end faster," and "I'd like to thank my parents for making this night possible. And my children for making it necessary."

That's all for today. Let's do it again on Thursday.

My 300th Post

I spend a lot of time wallowing in nostalgia. It is, in fact, my favorite place to wallow. But I don't just wallow blindly. I've spent a lot of time trying to figure nostalgia out. Why do things in our past look so much more fun and enjoyable and carefree when we know that it didn't feel like that at the time? Is it just rose-colored hindsight? or do we actually see clearer from a distance, and what we were blind to back then is achingly obvious now.

I remember several years back I was working as a cook in a bar. When I got a break I used to sit outside the kitchen door on an upturned bucket, smoke cigarettes and think. One thing I thought about was how in the future I would look back to this time, this place, this moon, this bucket with a great deal of nostalgia. I wondered why I didn't feel like that now. And I discovered that I could, that even though the job wasn't a great one, it was the right job for me at the time. I had just ended an unhappy marriage and I really loved working at a place where people were loud and happy. I enjoyed cooking, I liked being around my co-workers and people I had met since starting work there. I didn't have a lot of money, but I had enough to do the things I wanted to do. Life was good and there was no reason to worry.

Ever since I've been able to experience moments of that awareness. I can do it right now, just reflecting on the fact that I somehow convinced the girl of my dreams to marry me and I've kept her for 14 years and counting, that my children are all doing well navaigating the perils of growing up, that both my parents are still around and I can visit them on the weekend. It doesn't always work, but when it does you can feel that golden glow of nostalgia envelop you.

But then of course the toilet breaks or the traffic is stalled and I'm late. But even when it works I want more. I want to live there all the time. I know it's not easy; I'm not sure it's possible. And even if it's possible it may not be healthy. In high school I played the part of the Stage Manager in a production of Thornton Wilder's "Our Town". If you've seen that play then I know you remember when Emily was allowed to come back from the dead for one day. She wanted to pick the happiest day of her life, but she was not allowed to do that, it would have been too much. And just reliving an ordinary day was almost too more than she could bear -- especially seeing how everybody else just sleepwalked through their lives, blind to all the amazing stuff around them. So maybe earth is too wonderful for anyone to realize every, every minute; even saints and poets can only do it some.

But I want to try. I want to wallow in a constant state of nostalgia for right now.

Patrick Blindauer continues to expand the playfulness of crossword puzzles by packing another game into one of them. He's done chess and acrostics and today it's a word search. With an added twist that's even more impressive than the word search itself. Actually, it's kind of a word search crossed with an acrostic.

SPOILER WARNING: Don't read any further until you've done today's New York Sun Crossword Puzzle. New York Sun puzzles are every bit as fun and challenging as the more well-known New York Times and they're indisputably better in one way -- they're free. If you'd like to read about an unbiased head-to-head competition between the Sun and the Times puzzles check this out. Or if you're ready to decide for yourself you can download this puzzle and join in on the fun here.

4D: Discovery within this grid using the 10-Down (WORD SEARCH PUZZLE)

10D: See 4-Down (DOWN CLUE STARTERS)

And the down clue starters (first letter in each down clue) spell out: FIND THESE SIX WORDS TIME STORY TREE HOT FOUL ASSEMBLY. And from there it's up to you to find those words backwards, diagonally, diagonally backwards, however they might be hidden. Hiding ASSEMBLY in this grid was cool enough, but the way he gets the first letters in the down clue to spell out the instructions and the words -- and still have the clues themselves sound completely natural. Now that's impressive.

Usually with one of these Blindauer creations I play the second game after I finish the puzzle, but today I used the hidden words to help me through a couple of rough spots in the puzzle.

Other entries of interest:

1A: Only person to win both an Oscar and a Nobel (SHAW) I did not know that and I never would have guessed it unless you told me it was four letters long, starting with S-H. That's why I love crosswords. They make you look and feel smarter than you really are.

15A: Eton john (LOO) Now, that's funny. I know my sense of humor's not that sophisticated, but tha's funny. And I bet you did the same thing I did, read the clue too fast as Elton John and moved on to another clue -- or maybe you put SIR in there.

17A: Eck, for most of his career (ALER) That's a tough clue for a Tuesday. Those ALER and NLER's (for American and National League baseball players) are kinda tough (and unpopular in some circles). ECK is Dennis Eckersley, a Hall of Fame pitcher with a stupid yucky-sounding nickname.

30A: D and C, in D.C. (STREETS) This one gave me fits, and I used my knowledge of the one word search word (TREE) to figure it out.

36A: It may bring the kid out in you (CESAREAN) I had a hard time with that one too. I had the -REA- and figured it had to be ICE CREAM.

77A: Juice dispensers (TASERS) With all the talk about Barry Bonds and steroids these days, I wanted to put SYRINGES here.

41D: Row of keys under a touch typist's hand (ASDF) Well, this is where people who do the puzzles on the computer have an advantage over us pencil and paper people.

54D: One involved in match play (PYRO)

That's all for today. I have to apologize for the appearance of the completed puzzle. I highlighted the word search words in yellow, but I'm at work and the only scanner I have is the one in my black and white Xerox copier, and it didn't look so good. So I circled them instead -- which I guess is what you're supposed to do with word searches. Call me a traditionalist.

The Monday Moon -- I mean Sun

I realize that complaining about the lack of timeliness on the part of a crossword puzzle that I don't pay for leaves me without much of a righteously-indignant leg to stand on, but damn -- this thing didn't come out till about 4:30 p.m.. What's the hold-up? We're not looking for a word that'll work at 34 Down, you've got a whole week (at least) of puzzles, why can't you get them up on the website?
Oh well, here's your SPOILER WARNING: Don't read any further until you've done today's New York Sun Crossword Puzzle. New York Sun puzzles are every bit as fun and challenging as the more well-known New York Times and they're indisputably better in one way -- they're free. If you'd like to read about an unbiased head-to-head competition between the Sun and the Times puzzles check this out. Or if you're ready to decide for yourself you can download this puzzle and join in on the fun here.
In "Mercury Records" we watch the thermometer rise. I know I've seen a puzzle with a similar theme recently but I can't remember where now, and this one does have the saving grace of having the themed entries all be the titles of rock and roll records -- albeit not all hits.
17A: 1969 Plastic Ono Band hit (COLD TURKEY) Yeah, I know it says "hit", and it actually made the Billboard charts, peaking at #26, but have you ever heard this song about how unfun it is to quit heroin? Here are the lyrics:


Temperature's rising,
Fever is high,
Can't see no future,
Can't see no sky.

My feet are so heavy,
So is my head,
I wish I was a baby,
I wish I was dead.

Cold turkey has got me on the run.

My body is aching,
Goose-pimple bone,
Can't see no body,
Leave me alone.

My eyes are wide open,
Can't get to sleep,
One thing I'm sure of,
I'm in at the deep freeze.

Cold turkey has got me on the run.
Cold turkey has got me on the run.

Thirty-six hours,
Rolling in pain,
Praying to someone,
Free me again.

Oh I'll be a good boy,
Please make me well,
I promise you anything,
Get me out of this hell.

Cold turkey has got me on the run.
Oh-, oh-, oh--, oh...

I don't know -- 36 hours rolling in pain,can you dance to something like that?

28A: 1966 Capitols hit (COOL JERK) This one actually got to number 7 on the pop charts, but there really isn't much to it, just a guy bragging about how cool he is cuz he can do the jerk -- a popular dance at the time.

41A: 1992 Kris Kross hit (WARM IT UP) All I remember about Kris Kross is that they wore their pants backward, sang horribly and it seemed like a good time for me to give up on pop music.

53A: 1978 Foreigner hit (HOT BLOODED) Now this might be the greatest rock tune ever recorded. At least it seemed that way back in November 1978 when I had been in Air Force Basic Training at Lackland AFB for 3 days, freezing my ass off, going through some cold turkey of my own since I hadn't had a cigarette since I got there. We got out first smoke break, where guys stood on a square and puffed away, flicking the ashes into a bucket in the center of the square. Some guy in a flight ahead of us (who were allowed to have radios) walked by and his boombox was playing this song. I have never heard anything so beautiful before or since.
After the greatest rock song ever, there doesn't seem to be much worthy of comment in this puzzle. Yeah, there's a corny joke at 20D: "Why was 6 afraid of 7? Because 7 __ 9!" (ATE) and you know I love corny jokes, but it seems in order for this one to work the answer has to be "Because seven eight nine" letting the listener pick up on the aurul pun, and not "Because seven ate nine"because if the numbers are devouring each other, it's no wonder they're frightened. It's not funny, either.
And I learned something at 46A: Simple Father's Day gift (TIE TAC) I always thought that thing that kept your tie together was a tie tack.

That's all for tonight.

As anybody who's read this blog for any length of time knows, I enjoy a good obituary, a summing-up of a life well-lived. Merv Griffin is a perfect example.

What you may not know is that I hate a bad obituary -- people who leave us way too soon. This obituary for Mike Wieringo is a bad one. 'Ringo, as he was known to friends and fans, and I guess everybody who knew him was one or the other or both, was one of the most innovative comic book artists to come along in the last 30 years. When I first became aware of his work, he was pencilling the Flash and it took me a little while to get used to his lantern-jawed, more cartoony style of art. But that was only because it was so different than what everybody else was doing. Before long I began to appreciate how fluid and dynamic his lines were, what a great storyteller he was. That run on the Flash (with writer Mark Waid) is absolutely one of my favorite series ever -- and I've been reading comic books for 40 years. Ringo also did Adventures of Superman, The Sensational Spider-Man, Robin and he and Mark Waid were able to capture lightning in a bottle again on an unforgettable run on the Fantastic Four. He also co-created (with Todd Dezago) the fantasy series Tellos.

I met him a couple times at conventions. He was always very friendly and willing to spend some time with you. And he was only 44 years old, and he was a vegetarian in great shape.

Mike Wieringo dead at 44, Jack Chick still spreading poison at age 84. If you ever needed proof that life is not fair, there you have it.

Save Your Soul -- stop reading!

Remember those poorly-drawn little comic books that you used to find around pay phones and other public places? you know the ones that told you you needed to repent or go to hell and how evil this world is and blah, blah, blah. (And hey, I don't know anybody who loves comic books more than I do, but if they provide your Road to Damascus experience, something is wrong with you.) Those were all done by a man named Jack Chick, and he may not be a great artist, and his theology might be hateful and narrow-minded, but the man is zealous. He's done dozens maybe hundreds of these chick-tracts (which is what he calls those little comics).

Anyway, he's still at it. Now he's trying to save the world from a fictional English schoolboy.

I despise all book burners, but the ones who have it in for Harry Potter irk me the worst. Your kid has finally found a series of books he or she is passionate about, and they're experiencing one of the great joys of life -- losing oneself in a book, something that will enrich their lives immeasurably for as long as they live. What should we do about? Take them away, of course. Make our kids as fearful and ignorant as we are.

Go to hell, Jack Chick.

Too young to die at 82

Merv Griffin has passed away at the age of 82. Cause of death was prostate cancer. Born Mervyn Edward Griffin Jr. in San Mateo, California, Griffin got his first big break when as lead vocalist for Freddy Martin & His Orchestra, he had a number one hit with the novelty tune "I've Got a Loverly Bunch of Coconuts." From there he went on to a brief movie career, and from there to television history. Among other accomplishments on his resume: he was the singer on CBS's weekday Morning Show and The Robert Q. Lewis Show; He guest-hosted for Jack Paar several times on The Tonight Show; He filled in for Bill Cullen as host of The Price is Right in 1959: He was the full-time host of other game shows in the late '50s and early '60s, including Play Your Hunch and Keep Talking.
Then in 1964 he created a show you may have heard of, where contestants were given the answers and had to supply the questions. Jeopardy is the most successful TV game show ever. The second most successful is Wheel of Fortune, which Merv created in 1975.
At one time he hosted a late night talk show on CBS opposite Johnny Carson. But like the Smothers Brothers on that same network he ran into trouble with the network censors. Several of his guests were outspoken critics of the Vietnam War. When activist Abbie Hoffman was Griffin's guest in April 1970, CBS actually blurred Hoffman out so viewers couldn't see his shirt's American flag pattern -- that same pattern you now see everywhere on everything from bikinis to boxer shorts. Merv went on to host a syndicated talk show for several years.
And that's not all. Griffin owns the Mount Mervillian winery, several swanky hotels (Robert Downey, Jr. was once arrested in one), and Merv Griffin Events, a company that specializes in coordinating large-scale fashion events for companies like Gucci and Tommy Hilfiger.
His new game show "Merv Griffin Crosswords" debuts September 10th.
One thing I haven't seen mentioned in any of the obits is that Merv also appeared in an issue of Marvel Comics "What If?" with Captain America and Bucky:

Another great reason to visit the City of Brotherly Love

Nyuk, nyuk! Did you know there was a Three Stooges museum?

More books I've read in 2007

I was late getting into the Fables series, but I'm catching up now. This is the third book in the series and by far the best one so far. We get a historical Jack of the Fables (he's the guy that climbed the beanstalk, killed the giant, jumped over the candlestick and all the other Jack stuff in children's literature) tale, wherein he wins a magic bag that can consume anything -- and what happens after it consumes the Grim Reaper, and a story about a reporterwho tries to out the Fables -- although he doesn't have it exactly right, he thinks they're vampires. We get a followup to the tale of Thumbelina and what happens when there are more barleycorn brides. And we get a long tale of Bluebeard and Goldilocks's attempt to murder Snow White and Bigby Wolf. All this and flying monkeys too! You better believe this book gets the Green Genius Seal of Approval.
The general level of artistic talent in comic books is nowhere near as high as it was back in the golden and silver ages. Too many modern artists obviously learned how to draw by looking at comic books rather than at real life. But John Cassaday is so good he would have have had no problem getting a job back in the day. There are very few artists of his generation that I can say that of. And here's something I can say about him that I can say of no other artist of his generation -- I chose my books by the writer, but I will read anything John Cassaday draws. Even though Warren Ellis's chain-smoking, world-weary paranoia wears on me after a while, it's just so gorgeous to look at.

This is a compilation of a series that I enjoyed several years ago, but for the life of me I can't figure out why now.

Friday 8-10--07

This is mildly embarassing to confess, but I didn't figure out the theme of this one until after I finished it.
And here's where I try to make excuses for that.
1.) I'm not used to Friday puzzles being themed and so was not looking for a theme at all. (Except I knew it wasn't a themeless and I stopped a couple of times to say "Hmmm, that's odd phraseology, what could it mean?"
2.) I don't have time for themes, I was flying through the puzzle so fast, looking for a theme would have slowed me down. (Except that my time for a Friday was respectable but not record-shattering. And there were lulls during which picking up on the theme would have helped me.)
3.) The unusual symmetry made me dizzy and I couldn't think straight. (Well, actually I didn't notice anything about the odd symmetry until I was finished the puzzle, either.)

At any rate, as seems obvious to me now, "Switcheroo" by Jim Page involves switching the letters "ER" for "OO" and vice versa wherever they appear in the grid.
Like so:
20A: Place to buy a postseason program? (PLAYOFF BOOTH) Playoff berths are what teams vie for, a ticket to the postseason.

32A: One debuting on "America's Most Wanted"? (THE LATEST PERP) nee "poop".

39A: Outlook of a thug? (HOOD MENTALITY)

53A: Baroness in rags? (TATTERED LADY) And now I think I just figured out why I had such a hard time finding the theme. Once again I started at the botton when I couldn't get 1Across or 1Down, and TATTERED LADY was the first themed entry I got. And it seemed like some sort of odd Friday-level cluing, not anything ahving to do with a switcheroo of come kind. I've probably heard TATTOOED LADY only slightly more than I've heard TATTERED LADY. I guess a tattooed female was a great oddity back when Groucho Marx sang about "Lydia, the Tattooed Lady" but not anymore.

24A: ____ Jinx (Old comic book character) (LIL) (or more correctly LI'L) Li'l Jinx was a little girl who had a hard time walking the straight and narrow and kept getting into trouble. She appeared in Archie Comics forever, usually in one-page gag stories. She was created by a man named Joe Edwards who passed away back in February 2007. Mr. Edwards also created Squoimy the Woim, Cubby the Bear and Bumbie the Bee-tective. All three of these appeared as short features in the first issue of Archie Comics. Some people dismiss Li'l Jinx as nothing more than a female Dennis the Menace, but actually Joe Edwards's strip predates Hank Ketcham's by four years. Maybe Dennis is a male rip-off of Jinx.

25A: "Mr. Magoo" star (NIELSEN) Speaking of cartoon characters, I used to love Mister Magoo, even though almost all of the humor derived from the fact that the poor guy could hardly see, and now that my eyes aren't what they used to be, it might seem less amusing. Maybe the great Jim (Thurston Howell) Backus doing the voiceover had something to do with it too.

30A: Otters eat them (EELS) Why? The old English ballad "Lord Randall" made a big impression on me when I was a kid -- Harry Belafonte's version of it anyway. In that song a young man's sweetheart poisons him by serving him eels -- and the poor guy's mother won't shut up long enough for him to go to bed and die in peace.

44A: Three-vowel word that's a homophone of a fourth vowel. (EAU) Hmm, that's interesting. Never thought of that before.

5D: Rub-out target (STOOLIE) According to the rules of the switcheroo, shouldn't this be STERLIE?

42D: Meet assignment (LANE) That's a swim meet assignment, of course.

66A: Miss Mississippi's curviest parts? (ESSES) Now I remember why I started this puzzle from the bottom right corner. I wanted to see what the answer to this one was.

That's all for today. Have a great weekend.

Thursday

I got off to a good eight-letter start on this Themeless Thursday by Patrick Berry. "A Christmas Story" is a Yuletide tradition at Chez Green Genius, so I nailed 11D: "Be sure to drink your ____ (coded message in "A Christmas Story") OVALTINE with no problem. Sad to say, I used to be a nicotine addict, so I knew 21A: Cigarettes once pitched by a cartoon penguin (KOOLS). (His name was Willie by the way. He was married to Millie and for a while at least he took Mister Peanut as his fashion mentor and wore a top hat and a monocle.) And I didn't fall for the trap at 7D: There's no B.S. here (ARTS COLLEGE). These gave me my toeholds in the NW, NE and Center portions of the puzzle, respectively.

The only place I got really hung up was on the last Across entry -- 54A: Full of hardships, as a voyage (ODYSSEAN) I had most of it, but not the first letter because although I saw the movie "Breaking Away" many years ago I don't remember any Italian vermouth brands featured in it (35D), although I figured it ended with a vowel and O looked likely. But there was another problem. I had PINE at 48D: Like some air fresheners instead of PINY, so my answer was starting to look like it had something to do with popular crossword destination ODESSA.

Other entries of interest:

14D: Pitcher Mike who got the win in the first and last games of the 2000 World Series. Back in the days when the Yankees used to win World Series titles, winters were especially harsh for me. I hate cold weather and I miss baseball almost as much as I miss sunshine and warmth. But knowing that the hated Yankees are the champs just makes me that much more anxious for Spring. The last time the Bronx Bummers won it all was in the Subway Series against the Mets in 2000. I figured the answer to this clue had to be starting pitcher (and crossword aficionado) Mike MUSSINA, but it was actually set-up man Mike STANTON

Another baseball reference was hidden at 29D: It can be a drag (BUNT) A drag bunt is usually an attempt to get a hit rather than make a sacrifice, so the batter is actually already on his way to first when he hits the ball.



My favorite clue of the day? 13D: It most definitely is not fast food (ESCARGOT) Yep, not only do you never see escargot on the menu at McDoanald's, but snails are notoriously slow animals.


Which reminds me of a joke:

A man is sitting in house one evening, when the doorbell rings.
He goes to the door, opens it, peers out and sees nothing.
He looks down and, in the center of the doormat, he espies a snail. He picks up the snail and tosses it out into the yard.
Some three years later, the doorbell rings one night. He gets up and goes to answer. On the doorstep is the snail.
The snail says, "What the hell was THAT all about?"

19A: "Intermezzo" actress (EDNA BEST) I've seen "Intermezzo" but I don't remember anything about Edna. Maybe because it starred Ingrid Bergman and it's hard for to look at anything else when she's on screen.

32D: Not going with the flow? (AT ANCHOR) gave me a chuckle.

Hey, did you know that the National Hobo Convention starts today in Britt, Iowa, the home of the Hobo Museum? It sounds like tons of fun with the hobo king and queen coronation in City Park, free Mulligan stew, bed races, a polka mass at St. Patrick's Catholic Church (polka mass?) Learn more about it here.

That's all for today. Let's do it again on Friday.

Wednesday

It doesn't happen much anymore, but occasionally a puzzle will just frustrate and irk me to the point that it's no longer fun. That happened today. I don't think it's a bad puzzle -- maybe a little tough for a Wednesday, but maybe not. It may just be that my biorythms were off or Kelsey Blakley and I were on different wavelengths, but this one kicked my ass and I didn't like it.

No spoiler warning today. Here we go.

In "The First Shall be Last" the first letter of several common phrases is moved to the end. That's it. Sounds simple, doesn't it?

But I think I messed myself up by starting at the bottom of the puzzle. I got 55A: Earthy brown sheets (UMBER LINEN) pretty quickly and 41A: Torture beginning (RACK START), and I had the theme by then, but for some reason I got the idea that all the themed entries were going to be linked in another way -- not just by letter rearrangement, but by all having something to do with running or racing in some way. You can see how I thought that -- I had a TRACK STAR on a NUMBER LINE and then I got 34A: Aftermath of a sausage explosion (RAINING BRAT) and I figured a TRAINING BRA was something you might wear to run track -- but of course it's not, I had it confused with a sports bra.

So, because I was looking for track references or track apparel, it took forever to get 28A: Flower repugnance (ASTER HATE) cuz it never occurred to me that one might wear an Easter Hat to a track meet. And then it took two forevers to get 17A: Straight line? (ARC ANTONYM) especially since I had GROWS instead of GAINS at 14A: Makes progress and TEAR instead of TOOT at 20A: Bender.

Another screw-up that delayed progress was 11D: Undersea explorer where I had AQUANAUT instead of OCEANAUT and became very attached to it -- because AQUANAUT is just a much cooler word, isn't it? Cooler but wrong.

I'm in a hurry to put this one behind me so the only non-themed entry I'll comment on is 22D: Subject of the book "Bush's Brain". Of course I knew the subject couldn't be Bush cuz he doesn't appear to have one -- but it took me a while to figure out it was KARL ROVE. Being forced to think about that SOB made a frustrating puzzle distasteful.

Here's hoping Thursday will be better.

Wait for it

Here's more proof that you have to be patient to be an autograph collector. This one arrived in the mailbox over the weekend while we were on vacation. In case you don't recognize the signer, that's Sam Lloyd, he plays Ted Buckland, the staff attorney at Sacred Heart Hospital on one of my favorite TV shows "Scrubs". He's a great character actor, one you probably recognize without being able to say from where. He's been on "Desperate Housewives", "The West Wing" "NYPD Blue" "Mad About You" "Seinfeld" and lots, lots more. I sent off for autographs of most of the cast of "Scrubs." So far I only have Judy Reyes (Carla Turk) Ken Jenkins (Dr. Bob Kelso) and Neil Flynn (The Janitor). But that doesn't mean I won't have more eventually. I sent off for Sam Lloyd's autograph on March 30th, 2004. Which means it took almost 3 and a half years to get a response.

The Once and Future King

The last couple of puzzles from Patrick Blindauer have turned into things like acrostics and chess problems. So you know what I thought when I saw the title of this one "King Me"? I was thinking "Oh great, I'm going to have to play checkers after I finish solving this one." Thank goodness, such was not the case. Checkers is not my game. The king referred to here is a little more powerful than a couple of checkers playing piggyback.

We'll get to the spoiler warning right after this King Arthur joke (which comes with its own SPOILER WARNING: Bad puns (and tongue-twisters ahead) )

Back in the Middle ages, some friars were selling flowers. Unfortunately, the friars were not paying the appropriate taxes on their profits from the sale of these flowers. King Arthur didn't like this, so he sent Sir Lancelot to make the friars stop selling the flowers. Unfortunately, the friars threw rocks at Sir Lancelot and chased him away.

Then King Arthur sent Sir Galahad to make the friars stop selling the flowers. And the same thing happened again: The friars threw rocks at Sir Galahad and chased him away.

Then King Arthur sent Sir Hugh to make the friars stop selling the flowers. Sir Hugh, unlike his predecessors, was able to make the friars stop selling the flowers.

By now, however, King Arthur was getting pretty ticked about the whole situation. He called his knights together at the Round Table and said,

"Why is it that only one of my knights was able to make these friars stop selling these flowers?"

The other knights all immediately wanted to know,

"Who was it? Which one of us did this?"

To this King Arthur replied,

"Only Hugh can prevent florist friars!"

SPOILER WARNING: Don't read any further until you've done today's New York Sun Crossword Puzzle. New York Sun puzzles are every bit as fun and challenging as the more well-known New York Times and they're indisputably better in one way -- they're free. If you'd like to read about an unbiased head-to-head competition between the Sun and the Times puzzles check this out. Or if you're ready to decide for yourself you can download this puzzle and join in on the fun here.

By my calculations this puzzle's black spots exceeds the desired 17% maximum. But I think Blindauer should be forgiven on the grounds of artistic license. Just check out that beautiful picture of the sword in the stone in the grid there. That took some doing, working in the medium of black squares. (SWORD IN THE STONE, by the way, is the answer to 17A: Classic T.H. White novel, with "The")

Other Arthurian references include

10A: Legendary king (ARTHUR) and 31D: Last name of 10-Down (PENDRAGON)

4D: Wizard of 10-Down (MERLIN)

35D: 10-Down's possession, as seen in this puzzle's black squares (EXCALIBUR)

and of course:

14A: "Gimme ____ Lovin' " (SOME) 15A: Integrated software package (SUITE) and 16A: "Walkabout" director Nicolas (ROEG)

What's that? You don't see the connection? What about Sir Lancelot? Wasn't he some sweet rogue?

Other entries of interest:

1A: Pacman Jones's real first name (ADAM) I told you the only sport I care about is baseball, and that may be all I need I knew this football answer because the other day on XM Homeplate (the all-baseball, all the time channel) they were talking about a young phenom just called up by the Seattle Mariners and they said his name was Adam Jones "not to be confused with Adam "Pacman" Jones)

10A: Razor introduced in 1977 (ATRA) Discontinued years ago, but will live forever in crosswords.

23A: Shot putter? (SYRINGE) When I was a kid and you had to get a shot, the doctor would give you the empty syringe to take home. We called them shot-givers, and they were good for convincing the girl next door to play doctor.

The I's have it today. We've got PSI and CSI and XXI and ORI.

54D: Former union members? (EXES) I was thinking globally not maritally. I had SSRS.

63A: Team with "SD" caps (PADRES) And sometimes I don't even know baseball. I should have had this one right off, but it took me a minute cuz I read it too fast and thought it said "STD" caps. I couldn't think what team would wear a cap like that.

Here's the grid -- and no, I didn't finish it in a minute and a half. I just jotted down the elapsed time when my boss informed me that he was not paying me to do crossword puzzles.

An Open Letter to Senator Barack Obama

Dear Senator Obama;

The upcoming election was supposed to be such a simple one for me. George W. Bush, in his ongoing efforts to subvert and eventually negate the United States Constitution, has committed many unpardonable acts, but none more egregious than the war built on lies in Iraq. Over 3500 brave young American men and women have lost their lives; God only knows how many have lost limbs and eyes. And the Iraqi casualty count is much, much higher than that.

I was going to vote for the candidate who was going to get us out of there the fastest. No more talk of “peace with honor”, no more surges, no more deaths. I decided to vote for you even though John Edwards said he would get them out immediately and you said six months. I decided this because John Edwards initially voted for the war, and I know you’ve been against it since the beginning, as have I.

But now you’re talking about sending troops into Pakistan? about escalating rather than ending this bloodstained boondoggle? Why? What has happened to you? (Please don’t hand me any of that crap about “intelligence” and all that. Bush has taught us that “intelligence” means hear what you want to hear, ignore anything contradictory and do what you were going to do anyway.)

How do politicians get so out of touch with the American people? You people are so worried about some other politician calling you “soft on defense” that you will compromise your principles to avoid it. And that’s not what we the people are concerned about. We are war-weary. We are tired of lies, tired of fighting, tired of killing, tired of dying. We’re not worried about somebody being soft on defense. We want somebody who is soft on offense. Somebody who is not going to take advantage of our fears and lead us into more war.

I thought that someone might be you. Now I think I was wrong.

Sincerely,
Robert Loy

More powerful than a locomotive

I'm not crazy enough to think that I'm receiving secret messages through the crossword puzzle, but I've been working for the past several months on a new Jack B. Goode story. Mister Goode is my hard-boiled detective who has appeared in 3 issues of Fantasy and Science fiction magazine -- June 1999, December 2000 and August 2006 -- always as a fish out of water. The story I've been working on has him meeting Superman -- the Superman I grew up with, which is what comic book fans would call the Silver-Age Superman -- and helping him deal with Lex Luthor, Mr Mxyzptlyk and most sinister of all -- Lois Lane. I do feel like like this is a sign that I need to finsh that story and quit dragging my feet. So if the blog entries stay shorter than usual you'll know why.

But in the meantime, there is "Look! Up in the Sky!" by Will Nediger. SPOILER WARNING: Don't read any further until you've done today's New York Sun Crossword Puzzle. New York Sun puzzles are every bit as fun and challenging as the more well-known New York Times and they're indisputably better in one way -- they're free. If you'd like to read about an unbiased head-to-head competition between the Sun and the Times puzzles check this out. Or if you're ready to decide for yourself you can download this puzzle and join in on the fun here.

The themed entries in this puzzle all refer to the opening lines of the Superman TV show, which were an adaptation of the lines in the Superman radio show. Actually they were a little different in the first episode of the radio show:

"Faster than an airplane, more powerful than a locomotive, impervious to bullets!"
"Up in the sky - look!"
"It's a giant bird!"
"It's a plane!"
"It's SUPERMAN!"
"And now, Superman - a being no larger than an ordinary man but possessed of powers and abilities never before realized on Earth: able to leap into the air an eighth of a mile at a single bound, hurtle a 20-story building with ease, race a high-powered bullet to its target, lift tremendous weights and rend solid steel in his bare hands as though it were paper. Superman - a strange visitor from a distant planet: champion of the oppressed, physical marvel extraordinary who has sworn to devote his existence on Earth to helping those in need!"

But they quickly evolved into the lines we all know so well:

"Faster than a speeding bullet!

More powerful than a locomotive!

Able to leap tall buildings at a single bound!

("Look! Up in the sky!" "It's a bird!" "It's a plane!" "It's Superman!")...

Yes, it's Superman ... strange visitor from another planet who came to Earth with powers and abilities far beyond those of mortal men! Superman ... who can change the course of mighty rivers, bend steel in his bare hands, and who, disguised as Clark Kent, mild-mannered reporter for a great metropolitan newspaper, fights a never-ending battle for truth, justice, and the American way!"

Kinda funny that they kept that "Able to leap tall buildings" line even after Superman learned to fly.

The Super-references occur at:

4D: 1965 Jerzy Kosinkski novel (THE PAINTED BIRD)

14D: Much-hyped movie of 2006 (SNAKES ON A PLANE)

and

18D: Four-act play by George Bernard Shaw (MAN AND SUPERMAN)

Other entries of interest:

23A: Desi Arnaz memoir (A BOOK) I've never read it -- partly because I figure it's got to be pretty boring if that's the best title you can come up with -- but I wonder if he mentions how his marriage to Lucille Ball ended when she caught him in bed with, not one, but two prostitutes.

56A: "No one can sing who has smog in his throat" speaker of kiddie lit (LORAX) Dr. Seuss's work -- especially works such as "The Lorax" -- should not be consigned to the "kiddie lit" section. As a matter of fact, a lot of Seuss's stuff requires a few years on the part of the reader to truly appreciate. "Horton Hatches the Egg" is one of my favorite books ever -- not favorite children's books, just favorite.

27D: Low-prestige position (McJOB) I mentioned a while back how much I miss zines -- those handmade peiodicals that thrived in the 1990's. One of the ones I subscribed to was Julee Peezlee's "McJOB." Hilarious, especially if you've done some time on the bottom rungs of the economic ladder.

10D: Postpone, as a motion (TABLE) If you are in charge of the committee that tables the motion, you might be said to chair it. How many other actions in the boardroom are named after pieces of furniture?

19A: Cannabis (HEMP) I had WEED and when I found out it started with H I had HERB. Lots of erasing on this simple four-letter entry.

There's a blank space in my puzzle grid at 21. There should be an N there, making SNAPE and NOVA. There are holes in my Harry Potter knowledge and the field of smoked fish as well.

That's all for today.

Friday better late than never

I've only got about an hour before I have to go pack and prepare for a trek to the mountains. I apologize for the way the completed grid looks. I did it in the car in rush hour traffic. (I do not recommend this method of puzzle-solving, especially for a Friday puzzle.)

Without further ado let's do our SPOILER WARNING: Don't read any further until you've done today's New York Sun Crossword Puzzle. New York Sun puzzles are every bit as fun and challenging as the more well-known New York Times and they're indisputably better in one way -- they're free. If you'd like to read about an unbiased head-to-head competition between the Sun and the Times puzzles check this out. Or if you're ready to decide for yourself you can download this puzzle and join in on the fun here.

On a time budget -- as I believe I mentioned I am today -- I don't have time to look for any mini-themes, but I can tell you that none popped out at me -- unless it's long entries starting with the letter J, since there are two of them.

7D: "Oh, my!" (JEEPERS CREEPERS) I never have figured the expression "Oh, my!" out. Oh, my what? (But then I haven't figured out "Jeepers, creepers" either.)

31A: Author of "The Silent World" (JACQUES COUSTEAU)

Oh, and hey! I just noticed that this puzzle is a pangram -- it uses every letter of the alphabet at least once. Cool.

Some entries of interest:

1A: Army training ctr. since 1939 (FT. DIX NY) Ah, the rare doubler abbreviation allows Constructor Seth A. Abel to get a four-word phrase into 7-letters. It took me a while to get this one even though I had a feeling it was probably a FT., because I had 5D wrong. The clue is Summer of Love love child, e.g. and I had LEO and grew attached to it (even though I know better) before it became apparent that XER was the only answer that would work there.

Actually I had trouble with 4- and 6- down too. 6D: is FIT's setting (NYC) and I still have no idea what FIT is, 4D: is Anniversary gift between wood and wool (IRON) I'm getting ready to celebrate my 14th anniversary at the end of the month. I never knew there was an iron anniversary. What do you give your spouse on such an occasion? a golf club or something to press clothes with? Either way, not something my wife would appreciate.

23A: Popular workout routine (TAE BO) Is this still popular? Cuz I haven't seen or heard anything about it for months.

Maybe I'm still thinking about yesterday's food-y puzzle, but I liked 30A Butters up? (BASTES)

39A: Spitball target? (SUB) Took me a while to figure this one out even after I had _UB. In crosswords, a sub is either a ship or (more often) a sandwich, rarely a substitute teacher.

43A: Smooth, in a way (PRESS) Speaking of the iron anniversary.

47A: Organization that only one person in 50 qualifies for (MENSA) You have to be in the top 2 per cent of IQ to join. The only Mensa member that I work with is a hyperactive nutjob.

55A: Sent to the canvas (KAYOED) More commonly "K.O.ed" or "knocked out."

8D: Don Vito's creator (MARIO) Puzo, the author of "The Godfather."

20D: Fin (ABE) The five-dollar bill.

30D: Starts a squeeze (BUNTS) In baseball, a suicide squeeze is where the runner on third breaks for home as soon as the pitcher releases the ball while the batter prepares to bunt. Called "suicide" because if the batter gets down a perfect bunt there's a chance the runner will score. If not the runner is pretty much a dead duck.

Okay, my wife is starting to throw things more hurtful than baleful glares. I gotta go. Just time for one more.

52D: Eye's counterpart in a rebus puzzle (EWE) as in EYEBALL HEART SHEEP = EYE LOVE EWE = I Love You. And it's now official, the word "ewe" has now been clued every way humanly possible.

Enjoy your weekend.

Friday, August 3, 2007

My apologies to all Green Genius readers.

Robert's off in the mountains for the weekend. Before he left, he did the Friday puzzle and drafted his blog post. My job was to publish it tonight.

Unfortunately, being a guest blogger only allows me to edit and publish my own drafts...so I can't do anything with his.

The best I can do is send you over to Diary of a Crossword Fiend. Amy doesn't post the finished grid, but you'll at least get a commentary on the puzzle.

And the Green Genius will return on Monday. Have a great weekend.

Linda G

Let's hear it for the dear old queen -- er, I mean queer old dean. Reverend William Archibald Spooner (1844-1930) was dean and president of Oxford College. Even before he became famous for the tips of the slung -- sorry, slips of the tongue -- that now bear his name, he had a reputation for absent-mindedness. An Anglican priest, he returned to the pulpit at the conclusion of one sermon to announce "In the sermon I have just preached, whenever I said Aristotle, I meant St. Paul."

Spoonerisms are transpositions of the opening letters of two words in a phrase. As I mentioned earlier this week, my blogging time is limited this week, so I'm going to steal the following from a 1995 issue of Reader's Digest:

Reverend Spooner's tendency to get words and sounds crossed up could happen at any time, but especially when he was agitated. He reprimanded one student for "fighting a liar in the quadrangle" and another who "hissed my mystery lecture." To the latter he added in disgust, "You have tasted two worms."
Patriotic fervour excited Spooner as well. He raised his toast to Her Highness Victoria: "Three cheers for our queer old dean!" During WWI he reassured his students, "When our boys come home from France, we will have the hags flung out." And he lionised Britain's farmers as "noble tons of soil."
His goofs at chapel were legendary. "Our Lord is a shoving leopard," he once intoned. He quoted 1 Corinthians 13:12 as, "For now we see through a dark, glassly..." Officiating at a wedding, he prompted a hesitant bridegroom, "Son, it is now kisstomary to cuss the bride." And to a stranger seated in the wrong place: "I believe you're occupewing my pie. May I sew you to another sheet?"
Did Spooner really say, "Which of us has not felt in his heart a half-warmed fish?" he certainly could have – he was trying to say half-formed wish.
Lederer offers these other authentic spoonerisms: At a naval review Spooner marvelled at "this vast display of cattle ships and bruisers." To a school official's secretary: "Is the bean dizzy?" Visiting a friend's country cottage: "You have a nosey little crook here."
Thanks to Reverend Spooner's style-setting somersaults, our own little tips of the slung will not be looked upon as the embarrassing babblings of a nitwit, but rather the whimsical lapses of a nimble brain. So let us applaud that gentle man who lent his tame to the nerm. May sod rest his goal.

SPOILER WARNING: Don't read any further until you've done today's New York Sun Crossword Puzzle. New York Sun puzzles are every bit as fun and challenging as the more well-known New York Times and they're indisputably better in one way -- they're free. If you'd like to read about an unbiased head-to-head competition between the Sun and the Times puzzles check this out. Or if you're ready to decide for yourself you can download this puzzle and join in on the fun here.

As you might can tell from the title of Kelsey Blakley's "Serving Spoonerisms" all the metatheses in this puzzle are food-related. ("Metatheses" by the way are what these were called before the good reverend made them his own. It's from the Greek for "transpositions.")

17A: Bread spread for someone who's hungry enough to eat a horse? (COLT BUTTER) nee "bolt cutter" and that's the last one I'm going to do for you.

34A: Bun eaten every day? (HABIT ROLL) If I was going to eat a bun every day I would want the garlic and cheese biscuits from Red Lobster. Man, those are good. Even before I learned to appreciate seafood I loved going to the Crimson Crustacean (as my beloved and I call Red Lobster) just for the biscuits. All the recipes I can find for it use Bisquick, which I doubt is the case in the restaurant, but here's one that will give you an approximation anyway.

38A: Acrid smoked salmon (BITTER LOX) I don't think the Sun uses the same "breakfast table" standards as the Times, but it begs the question: If "litter box" is unacceptable, is the spoonerized version okay?

54A: Mealy bisque (GRITTY SOUP) My favorite soup -- by far -- is split pea -- hold the grit, please. It goes great with garlic and biscuits, by the way.

10D: Dish for a Hawaiian braggart? (BOASTER POI) As every crossworder knows, poi is made from taro. I've never had any -- and as any fan of spilt-pea soup knows, you can't judge a food by how it looks -- but poi looks disgusting -- grey and goopy.

26D: Side dish that can be tootled (FLUTE FRIES) This is my favorite of the serving Spoonerisms. You don't see them that often where it's the second letter that is transposed.

Other food-drink-cooking entries in the grid (albeit non-Spoonerized) include 22A: Bit for Flicka (OAT) 41A: Like a pumpless well (ARTESIAN) 43A: Gleason's role in "The Hustler" (FATS) 44A: Course that's an easy A (GUT) 60A: Genoese cuisine sauce (PESTO) 51D: Covers (LIDS) 25D: Budge (STIR) the clue for 13D: Head cheese? (EXEC) and 39D: 1996 Phillip Kerr technothriller (ESAU) who, again as all crossworders know, sold his birthright for a mess of poi -- or pottage or something.

Other entries of interest: 31D: Golda's successor as Israeli foreign minister (ABBA) and 32D: Eban's predecessor of Israeli foreign minister (MEIR) That's pretty impressive. I like the way they line up visually as well as historically and the way they give each other way -- if you know your Israeli history.

48D: "Safe!" crackers (UMPS) Love the baseball clues.

40A: What McCall's was renamed (ROSIE) Right before it was buried beneath tons of ego. Remember when Rosie O'Donnell had that daytime talk-show and everybody loved her cuz she was so nice. What happened to her?

48A: Herb's daughter in the comic strip "Herb and Jamaal" (UHURA) I'm only vaguely aware of this strip. Is she named after Star Trek's communications officer? (Probably, how many other Uhuras are there?)

5A: 2000 JT Leroy novel (SARAH) Of course, there actually is no JT Leroy. It was all part of a hoax by writer Laura Albert and her friend Savannah Knoop. Although Albert and Knoop still refer to it as a "veil" and not a hoax.

That's all for today. Have a good Thursday.